North Yorkshire County Council
Scarborough and Whitby Area Constituency Committee
Minutes of the remote meeting held on Wednesday, 16th March 2022 commencing at 10.30 am.
County Councillor Joe Plant in the Chair. plus County Councillors Clive Pearson, Derek Bastiman, Eric Broadbent, Liz Colling, David Jeffels, Janet Jefferson and Roberta Swiers.
Officers present: Karen Atkinson and Melanie Carr.
Other Attendees: Helen Jackson and Alex Richards - Scarborough Borough Council
Sarah Robinson and Geraldine Tebb – Yorkshire Water
Apologies: County Councillors David Chance, Andrew Jenkinson and Tony Randerson.
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Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
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Introductions & Apologies for Absence
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and Members introduced themselves.
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Minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2022
Resolved –
That the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2022, having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.
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Declarations of Interest
In regard to Agenda item 6 – North Yorkshire Town Deal Fund, County Councillor Liz Colling declared an interest as the Scarborough Borough Council Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, as the Towns Deal Fund fell within her portfolio.
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Public Questions & Statements
There were no public questions or statements.
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Yorkshire Water Presentation on Bathing Waters & Environmental Performance
Geraldine Tebb, Yorkshire Water’s Coastal Delivery & Engagement Manager provided a presentation to the Committee on Yorkshire’s Bathing Waters. The presentation included information on: · Yorkshire Water’s bathing water directive, which set out how bathing waters were monitored and managed, and the classifications used to rate the quality of the bathing waters at the various beaches along the coast. · Influences on bathing water quality i.e. treatment works, agricultural run-offs, industry etc · The roles and responsibilities of the various organisations e.g. DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the local Authority and water companies. Members noted the responsibilities for each organisation, as detailed within the presentation slides attached to the agenda; · Investment – Prior to 2015, £110m had been invested into improving Yorkshire’s beaches in the Scarborough area. In 2020, £1m was invested in to a joint project with the Environment Agency with the intention of developing prediction models to better understand what influenced bathing water quality; · The Yorkshire Coastal Partnership – Members noted the new vision and objective for the Partnership, and the new format for its Technical Action Group;
In terms of performance, the presentation confirmed that of the nine beaches in the Scarborough area, five had been rated excellent, three were rated good and one rated efficient. Members noted the projected number of bathing waters expected to have a poor rating across the Yorkshire region had been four, but the latest classifications showed there were none.
Finally, Geraldine Tebb confirmed Yorkshire Water’s future plans that included pre-season beach walkovers and agreeing partnership action plans, and ongoing investments at both Endeavour Wharf to improve station reliability and Scalby Mills to improve screening handling.
It was noted that Yorkshire Water used a marine impact model to measure storm discharges at sea, and it was confirmed that new Drainage Area Plans had been introduced for both the Whitby and Scarborough areas.
In regard to the South Bay at Scarborough in was confirmed the aquarian top valve was regularly checked and cleaned, in preparation for when flash floods occurred. It was also noted there were no specific assets in the South Bay causing concern, and that 70% of the variants could be explained through tracking the temperature of Scalby Beck.
In regard to agricultural run-off, it was noted that sands end beach was the most impacted and that work with the Environment Agency had been undertaken to look at how practices could be improved to address the issue.
Members thanked Geraldine Tebb for her attendance and presentation, and it was
Resolved – That the presentation be noted, and a further update be provided in due course.
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North Yorkshire Town Deal Fund
Alex Richards, Head of Economic Development and Regenerational Services at Scarborough Borough Council, provided a presentation on the Scarborough & Whitby Towns Deal, which included an outline of the programme, and an overview of the projects that made up the individual Investment Plans for both Scarborough Town and Whitby.
It was noted that: · The last update received had been back in September 2021, and since that time significant progress had been made; · A Town Deal Board had been established for both areas, and both were representative of local government, local business, parish councils and community groups. They made all the decisions about which projects went forward; · Town investment plans had been developed following significant consultation, to identify a key list of projects, issues and activities that needed addressing through utilisation of the fund; · Phase two of the Town Deal process included refining the proposals and finalising the business case for each project, for submission to Government; · All projects needed to be completed by March 2026; · Final approval of the individual projects was likely to be sought from the Shadow Authority and implementation of the projects would transfer to the new Unitary Authority following vesting day; · There was now a massive shortfall in the funding, following design changes for the old Town Hall market place project in Whitby. Discussions with alternative funders was underway to address the £400K shortfall. If not secured, consideration would be given to an alternative scheme for the site; · Each of the project’s business cases included a cost plan which took account of the current build costs and allowed for future inflation rises. Once the business cases were approved, further work would be undertaken on the fine design details to ensure project delivery; · The Borough Council had identified a contingency to support the projects and so there was a buffer in place. A range of potential and actual match funding partners had also been identified; · Data on job outcomes was currently being collated for all the schemes, for inclusion in the overall submission to be made to central Government at the end of March 2022;
County Councillor Roberta Swiers expressed her disappointment that Cayton village and other small villages would not be benefitting from any of the funding being brought into the area from the various projects.
County Councillor Janet Jefferson suggested that it would be beneficial to hold a town-wide engagement event for Scarborough to increase people’s understanding of the work of the Town Deal Board and the various projects.
On behalf of the Committee, the Chair gave thanks to everyone who had been involved for their hard work in getting the Town Deals to their current stage.
Resolved – That the North Yorkshire Town Deal update be noted.
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Stronger Communities Annual Update
Karen Atkinson, Stronger Communities Delivery Manager for the Scarborough District provided an update on the work of the Stronger Communities team. She drew specific attention to: · The CSO’s providing support to the area were Age UK (Scarborough & District), SWR Mind (Scarborough south), Coast and Vale Community Action (Whitby) and Revival North Yorkshire (Esk Valley and various villages); · 120 volunteers across those organisations, with 10,926 volunteer hours since April 2021; · Transition activities were now being considered to improve people’s confidence and independence. The new activities included outdoor activities and indoor crafts; · The work of CaVCA with families in the area, linking with Grow and Learn and Hungry Little Minds to help isolated new parents link into social activity and create peer group support; · The work of Revival North Yorkshire, delivering a variety of activities including arts and crafts, hosting the North York Moors online group walks, and Zoom exercise classes for older residents within the community; · Particular challenges emerging from the pandemic, included financial hardship and mental health support; It was noted that in the last year, Stronger Communities had also supported the provision of 41 small Covid19 Community Grants totalling £39,331 in order to deliver a range of new activities aimed at increasing socialisation.
Finally Karen Atkinson confirmed there was a number of new emerging and exciting opportunities for greater levels of collaboration and cross sector working for the CSOs. In particular she highlighted the SeeCHANGE project, which was aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of people living in Scarborough.
The Chair thanked Karen Atkinson and the Stronger Communities team for their work throughout the year.
As it was the final meeting of the Committee before the coming election, the Chair also thanked members for the contribution to the work of the Committee.
Resolved – That the annual Stronger Communities Team update be noted.
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The meeting concluded at 11.45 am.